Yesterday, Sarawak reported 3,732 cases, while no other state topped 2,000.

In a statement, APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh said they had made the request to help as the volume of Covid-19 patients could soon surpass the capacity of the public healthcare system in the state.

He said while some hospitals will be large enough to take on self-paying Covid-19 patients, many smaller facilities lack the resources and ICU capacity to do so.

“We hope more non-Covid-19 patients from the government hospitals can be decanted to the private hospitals in Kuching which will create space for Covid-19 patients to be treated in government facilities.

“This process of decanting had a huge success in the Greater Klang Valley, with 3,187 patients receiving care in private hospitals.”

He noted that Penang had already begun a similar process, with 69 non-Covid-19 patients transported to private facilities in the last 10 days.

“We hope private hospitals in Kuching and other towns in Sarawak would be able to follow the efforts made by the private hospitals in the peninsular, both in treating self-paying Covid-19 and transferring non-Covid-19 patients based on their existing capacity and capability.”

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